Anybody want a slightly "toasted" Greyhound?

[WEC4104]

Caught the following news story this afternoon.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19585049/

[brojcol]

That'll buff out!

[Dallas]

Since no one was injured I guess I can say,

I wonder if he was using Detroit Diesel approved CF-2 oil?
and
I wonder if he had the right kind of tires on it and they were balanced?
and
I wonder what they are gonna use for engine insulation and if the fire was caused by a turbo fire?

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Got Marshmello's?

[WEC4104]

Or perhaps the driver was speeding past Hooters at too high a speed.

[roadrunnertex]

Greyhound burn em up record is about 1 bus a week this summer.
Back in the years when Greyhound was running GMC's 4104's and PD4501 Scenicruisers you didn't hear about that many Greyhound buses catching fire.
But the bus maintenance and up keep was top notch back then.
Not like it is today.
But that's progress you see.

[DrivingMissLazy]

Did not have the internet back then and probably very little TV. I doubt it the national radio or TV news programs would have considered something like this news.
Richard

Greyhound burn em up record is about 1 bus a week this summer.
Back in the years when Greyhound was running GMC's 4104's and PD4501 Scenicruisers you didn't hear about that many Greyhound buses catching fire.
But the bus maintenance and up keep was top notch back then.
Not like it is today.
But that's progress you see.

[Hartley]

Caught the following news story this afternoon.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19585049/

Did you see the related article about the KY crash, Wrong Tags and Registration and too many people on the bus. Boy somebody is is trouble over that little mis-step.. The driver didn't make it either.

[Kristinsgrandpa]

Yeah, I saw where the driver was one of the two fatalities.

It's like someone posted on here not too long ago.

He said his grandpa was a bus driver and that  he "wanted to die peacefully in his sleep like grandpa, not screaming and yelling like the other 66 people on board the bus".

Ed

[belfert]

Did you see the related article about the KY crash, Wrong Tags and Registration and too many people on the bus. Boy somebody is is trouble over that little mis-step.. The driver didn't make it either.

Wrong tags are illegal, but how do they cause a bus to crash?  The same thing can be asked about morer passengers than seats.  Transits do this all the time legally.  Do we know they didn't have young children on laps?  

A bus crash ia always a tragedy, but the media brings up all kinds of stuff that generally has no bearing on why the bus crashed.

[Busted Knuckle]

Wrong tags are illegal, but how do they cause a bus to crash?  The same thing can be asked about morer passengers than seats.  Transits do this all the time legally.  Do we know they didn't have young children on laps?  

A bus crash is always a tragedy, but the media brings up all kinds of stuff that generally has no bearing on why the bus crashed.

Brian you are right the wrong tags didn't cause the bus to crash! And likely too many passangers (small children or not) probably did not make it crash! And I really hate it when a bus of any kind, or belonging to anybody crashes. It is a shame and a tragedy no matter why it happened, but in our industry it really looks bad when there are contributing factors such as this! OK first of let me point out I have met and personally dealt with Mr. Clearance Williams. And he was/is one of the nicest gentleman you'll ever meet, from what I've seen he'd give the shirt off his back if you needed it. And likely that's why he allowed this family to put more people on the bus than it had seats for, to save $ from having to charter 2 buses. But on doing so he allowed for this tragedy to be worse by having people on board who were not safely in a seat as the bus was designed for. And it could have been people in the isle that caused a distraction and caused the driver to lose control (again not likely but possible). Also having all those extra people on board means that people are in the isles and or up moving around most of the time during the trip, which cause extra stress on the driver as he has to pay attention to his driving as well as keep an eye on who's where doing what for their own safety! Yes transit buses allow standees all the time, but that doesn't make it safe. Also it is against the ICC rules and regulations for any bus traveling on the interstates to have more passanger than they have seats for. OK now as far as the wrong tags, again they didn't cause the wreck but the correct ones for that bus were expired. OK why not renew the ones that should have been on it? Had it been out of service for repairs ? Was something wrong with it that needed repaired? Did they pull it out of the back lot and send it on this trip when it wasn't road worthy? The tags that were on it were of an '87 model MCI, and we all know that they didn't make 55 passanger coaches in '87. So was it put back in service prematurely because it was able to better accommodate the 66 people, instead of a 47 passanger unit? No I don't know why either, but having the wrong tags brings all these things to my mind (and I'm sure the accident investigators as well!) Remember the Global Tours bus that shouldn't have even been on the road, that exploded during hurricane Rita evacuations killing 23 people? It also had the wrong tags on it! For that exact reason it should not have been in service, but any and all buses were needed at the time. What makes it worse is they put an illegal tag on it, when the Governor of Texas has made it clear that all buses would be exempt from registration, Hrs of service, and any other DOT #'s, ICC #'s, driver qualifications, or etc. Which was asking for a disaster in the first place, but the buses were needed! But my point is, if the Governor has issued a pardon, why put the wrong plate at all of from it? I'll tell you why, because the bus was unsafe to be on the road, but if it had a legal appearing tag on it nobody would look twice at why it was on the road! I don't know why Mr. Williams allowed his bus to go all the way to New York with improper tags, but it sure looks suspicious to me. It also looks bad that every time a tragedy like this and the Rita incident, that the bus has illegal tags on it! In my opinion it leads people to believe that we're all out there doing it, which is not fair to those of us who pay dearly for proper tags, insurance and maintenance!
OK I'm off my soap box now! BK 

[Jeremy]

Regarding the tags issue - in the UK now many major roads (both cross-country and in city-centres) have number-plate (licence plate) recognition cameras that check the registration database to see if your vehicle is legal (ie. taxed, insured, MOT'ed) - I don't know if the technology is starting to be used in the US or not, but if so it will quickly become impossible to drive any distance in a vehicle that isn't fully legal.

Sets of number plate recognition cameras are also being used more and more as 'average speed' cameras here as well, which are a real nuisence as you have absolutely no choice but to obey them and slow down for long periods of time (fair enough perhaps when the roads are busy during the day, but very annoying on an empty road during the middle of the night for instance).

The cameras also measure the time taken for individual vehicles to travel a particular distance as a way of monitoring congestion problems and sending warnings to drivers approaching the area - which is a much more friendly use of the technology.

Jeremy

[kyle4501]

The reason the wrong tags & over crowded issue was brought up is that it shows a 'disregard for the rules'. If the someone will break rules that are easy to check, how much contempt will they have for the laws that are harder to check?

A sad situation & a real tragedy for all involved to be sure.

We need to accept responsibility as passangers too. If the driver fails to do his job, we are not immune from the tragic consequences.
If we see something that is unsafe, we should point it out, even if we are not the driver.

I can't imagine standing from NY to Alabama. I don't even want to think about having to step over people laying in the aisle.

[Busted Knuckle]

The reason the wrong tags & over crowded issue was brought up is that it shows a 'disregard for the rules'. If the someone will break rules that are easy to check, how much contempt will they have for the laws that are harder to check?

My point exactly! And for the life of me, knowing Mr. Williams personally I really don't understand this as I thought he was a much more responsable and concerned operator than this! FWIW !

A sad situation & a real tragedy for all involved to be sure.

And those not necessarily "directly involved" also as gives the whole industry a "major black eye! "

We need to accept responsibility as passangers too. If the driver fails to do his job, we are not immune from the tragic consequences.
If we see something that is unsafe, we should point it out, even if we are not the driver.

Again I agree 100% !

I can't imagine standing from NY to Alabama. I don't even want to think about having to step over people laying in the aisle.

 You'd be surprised how many times on almost each and every trip I have to repeatedly tell folks that is is not allowed for people to lay in the aisle, and if they don't clear the aisle I'll have to stop the bus and wait til they do! It's ok for someone to stop and kneel, squat, or even temporarily sit in the aisle while "visiting with another passanger" but so many times I see people grab a pillow and/or blanket and stretch out in the aisle! NOT ALLOWED AT ANY TIME ON MY BUSES! BK 

PS also a big problems is folks trying to put coolers in the aisle! What part of "We need to keep the aisle clear at all times for SAFETY reasons!" Don't they understand ?!?!? BK 

[RJ]

You'd be surprised how many times on almost each and every trip I have to repeatedly tell folks that is is not allowed for people to lay in the aisle, and if they don't clear the aisle I'll have to stop the bus and wait til they do! It's ok for someone to stop and kneel, squat, or even temporarily sit in the aisle while "visiting with another passanger" but so many times I see people grab a pillow and/or blanket and stretch out in the aisle! NOT ALLOWED AT ANY TIME ON MY BUSES! BK 

Knuckle -

Back in the early 80's, when I was driving charters, it wasn't uncommon for the high school kids coming home from the all-nite grad party at Disneyland to crawl up and stretch out in the overhead luggage racks on the GMCs! 

Another good reason for the compartmentalized overheads nowadays, eh?   

FWIW. . .